16TH October –
Today we arrived in Venice Italy.
We cruised into Venice at around 1030 am…. It was spectacular.
We had jostled ourselves a spot on the deck and had a birds eye view of Venice as we cruised in through the narrow canal and into the dock. The buildings were literally…as I was expecting…sitting on water. We could see the bridges..canals and church steeples from every angle.
We jumped off the ship and literally wandered like lost sheep for awhile.. finally we clicked into gear and caught the water ferry to St Marks Square.
The St Marks Basilica was breathtaking both inside and out with all the gold tiling…marble and statues.
This basilica was completed in 1093.
Doges Palace – built in the 14th century.. was home to the “Doge” aka military Leader. The palace was the seat of power and palace of justice. The bridge of Sighs was built to link it to the prison.
The last Doge abdicated in 1797 during conflicts with France….and then there were no more Doges. The Palace is now one of Venices many museums.
The bridge of Sighs connecting the palace with prison was apparently named because the prisoners walking the covered bridge to prison would sigh as they took their last look at Venice through the windows.
The Gondola ride was worth every euro we spent on it. It was magical… we pushed off from the chaotic crowded street and into the canal… it was only a matter of minutes and we were in a canal away from everything.
It was silent other than the paddle dipping the water and the commentary of all the buildings by our Gondolier was very interesting.. We passed under many bridges including the famous Rialto Bridge…and passed by many other gondolas and water taxis.
I was amazed by the restaurants and Motels with water lapping at their doors…imagine arriving by Gondola to your accommodation with luggage in tow.
The worst part of our day was catching the crowded water ferry back to the train stop so we could get back to the Port and our ship. It was jam packed with commuters and it took what seemed forever to get back.
Tonight was our last night on the Regal Princess… we spent it docked in Venice ..like a floating Motel.
We were going to be very sad disembarking in the morning…but also excited for the next stage of our journey to begin.
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